1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to text messaging, including text messaging applications which utilize cellular telephone networks and/or the Internet.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of text messaging continues to rapidly grow.
Many cellular telephone carriers offer their customers a text messaging application that which sends the customer's text messages over their cellular telephone network.
Other text messaging applications are available that the same customers may use, but that instead send their text messages over the Internet. Examples of these are Text Plus and Text Free. Customers may prefer to use an Internet text messaging application to avoid messaging charges which otherwise might be imposed by the cellular telephone carrier.
When using an Internet text messaging application, however, a problem can arise when the recipient of the text message is not a subscriber to the Internet text messaging system that is used by the Internet text messaging application. In this circumstance, the Internet text messaging system may not be able to route the message to the recipient over the Internet. Instead, the Internet text messaging system may need to route the message back through the customer's cellular telephone network.
To facilitate this routing, the Internet text messaging system may need to designate the senders address by what is known as a “dynamic short code,” rather than the telephone number of the sender. This usually results in the dynamic short code appearing in the recipient's communication device as the sender's address, making it difficult for the recipient to easily recognize the identity of the sender.